Wildcats to take on Hartford in the finals at Wildcat Stadium on Nov. 16.
DURHAM, N.H. – Freshman Bilal Kamal (London, England) and senior Antonio Colacci (Bradenton, Fla.) each recorded a goal and an assist as the top-seeded and No. 18 nationally ranked University of New Hampshire men's soccer team shut out UMass Lowell in the semifinals, 3-0, to continue on to the America East Championship game. Redshirt freshman Rory O'Driscoll (Minneapolis, Minn.) also tallied a goal and junior Jacob Gould (Exeter, N.H.) added two assists. With the win, UNH improves to 13-1-3 and the River Hawks conclude their season 9-8-1.
UP NEXT: The Wildcats look to win the America East Championship title for the second year in a row as they take on No. 3 seed Hartford in a home contest at Wildcat Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. on ESPN+. The Wildcats defeated the Hawks at Wildcat Stadium, 5-0, earlier this season.
UNH had two close opportunities in the span of three minutes in the first half. In the ninth minute, graduate student Fabian Lutz (Bad Groenenbach, Germany) sent a high ball towards the goal and graduate student Kyle Brewster (New Hampton, N.H.) headed it to the upper right of the net, but Patrik Gujic made the reaching save. In the 13th minute, senior Jack Doherty (Meriden, N.H.) sent a cross ball to Colacci who was centered in front of the goal, but his shot hit the crossbar and was cleared out.
The Wildcats were first on the board in the 44th minute (43:30) with a goal from O'Driscoll. Colacci took a free kick that was touched by the goalkeeper, but Kamal collected the ball in front of him and left it for O'Driscoll to rip a shot into the top left corner of the net.
Rory O'Driscoll (Photo by Jeremy Gasowski)
After the first half, UNH outshot UMass Lowell 13-3 in total shots and 7-2 in shots on target.
In the 63rd minute, the Wildcats denied the River Hawks of a close scoring opportunity by Denis Petro. Petro ran the ball deep into the left corner and dropped it back for Renato Kauzlaric to shoot but the ball went just over the goal.
Fifty-two seconds later in the 63rd minute (62:53), UNH increased its lead to 2-0 as Kamal buried the ball into the lower left of the goal. Gould sent a through pass to Kamal, who dodged to the right of the defender to have a clear shot in the center.
The Wildcats went up 3-0 in the 77th minute (76:14) when Colacci netted a goal into the bottom right. Colacci worked with Gould on a give-and-go pass and ran through to collect the ball and outrun the defenders for a straight-on shot.
UNH held on to its shutout for the remainder of the half, resulting in a final score of 3-0.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
UNH outshot UMass Lowell 20-7 in total shots and 10-4 on shots on target.
Graduate student goalkeeper Alejandro Robles (Monterey, Mexico) recorded four saves for UNH and Gujic had six for UMass Lowell.
The Wildcats had 19 fouls, while the River Hawks had 18.
UNH had a total of seven corner kicks and UMass Lowell took one.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
Photo by Meghan Murphy
UNH is 27-1-4 all time at Wildcat Stadium, including a 7-0-1 record this season.
The Wildcats have outscored their opponents this season 36-7.
UNH recorded its 11th shutout of the season.
This is the third straight year these two team met in the semifinals as UNH won last year, 2-0, at Wildcat Stadium, while the River Hawks won 2-1 in Lowell in 2017.
This will be UNH's sixth appearance in the championship game (1993, 1994, 2010, 2012, 2018, 2019).
The Wildcats look to defend their America East Championship title, as they won their first one last year by a 5-0 score versus UMBC at Wildcat Stadium.
STAY CONNECTED
There are numerous ways to stay connected with the UNH men's soccer team. Follow the Wildcats on Twitter @UNHMSoccer and on Instagram @unhmenssoccer.
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